A photo from my Temporary Profession as a Diocesan Hermit on Sept. 12th. I'm lying prostrate as the Nuns sing the Te Deum in thanksgiving to God for the grace of my Profession. Bishop Ronald Gainer is to the left with Fr. John Szada (Chaplain to the Nuns), 2 altar servers from the Academy of St. Louis De Montfort, and Mr. Byron Whitcraft (one of the 2 witnesses to sign my Profession of Vows).
Ave Maria!
Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
Dear Novena Family,
Thank you to all who have enrolled in the All Souls Latin Mass Novena and to the many who made donations. May God and His Holy Mother reward you!
Those who have not enrolled yet, but would like to, can go to www.novenamasses.org or click on the link below. I will send out a final alert towards the end of October.
In Corde Matris,
Fr. Maximilian Mary of Jesus Crucified
P.S. I've included some spiritual commentary on the Las Vegas massacre below for those who might be interested.
ALL SOULS
LATIN MASS NOVENA
Click HERE to Enroll now
A photo from my Temporary Profession as a Diocesan Hermit on Sept. 12th. I'm lying prostrate as the Nuns sing the Te Deum in thanksgiving to God for the grace of my Profession. Bishop Ronald Gainer is to the left with Fr. John Szada (Chaplain to the Nuns), 2 altar servers from the Academy of St. Louis De Montfort, and Mr. Byron Whitcraft (one of the 2 witnesses to sign my Profession of Vows).
Be assured of my poor prayers and please pray for me...
What I am about to share, and admittedly I was hesitant to do this, is not primarily about the Las Vegas shooter or the victims or myself; rather, I recount this because I think it illustrates how God gently, but concretely calls upon us to pray and do penance for the conversion of poor sinners in simple, concrete ways.
On Sunday, Oct. 1st, after praying Compline, I went to sleep peacefully in my hermitage cell. Slightly after 1am (E.T.) I woke up with heartburn. I offered it up for the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart and got up to take an antacid. Since I clearly was not going to be able to go back to sleep right away I went to the Chapel, greeted Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and took my Breviary back to my cell. I propped my pillow against the wall and sat up in my bed. I glanced at the clock; it was 1:08am. Then I began Matins and Lauds for Oct. 2nd, Feast of the Guardian Angels.
Regem Angelorum Dominum, Venite, adoremus was the Invitatory Antiphon: "Come, let us adore the King and Lord of the Angels."
Little did I know that as I was offering up this minor discomfort and saying my Divine Office there were over 20,000 souls under attack by a shooter in Las Vegas. Around 10:15, only 10 minutes after the shooting had begun - and it's obvious that killer intended to keep shooting - the terrorizing bullets stopped. Apparently things didn't unfold the way the gunman had thought they would; in fact a security guard named Jesus Campos had come to his door. That would have happened when I was praying this Antiphon:
Deus meus misit Angelum suum, et conclusit ora leonum, et non nocuerunt mihi - "My God sent His Angel, and He closed the lions' mouths, and they did not harm me."
For me, there was nothing extraordinary about what I was doing - I was just a useless servant fulfilling his priestly duty; but the next morning when a priest told me what had happened in Las Vegas and when I saw the timeline of events, I couldn't help but marvel. To be sure, I wasn't the only one led to pray and offer sacrifices at that fatal hour; but Our Lord allowed me to see the correlation of my own prayers and sacrifices with what was happening in Las Vegas.
Lesson: fulfilling our daily Christian duties has impact on the fate of the world.
Another lesson: God wants our love, prayers and sacrifices; these give Him glory and unleash graces for poor sinners.
As we finish this year, 100th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima, Our Lady seems to be inviting us now - as she did the little shepherd children then - "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: 'O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.' " Sr. Lucia explains, "Many persons, feeling that the word penance implies great austerities, and not feeling that they have the strength for great sacrifices, become discouraged and continue a life of lukewarmness and sin." But Our Lord explained to her that "the sacrifice required of every person is the fulfillment of his duties in life and the observance of My law. This is the penance that I now seek and require."
Let me quote the sobering words I myself uttered after Sept.11th, 2001, in an article printed by the National Catholic Register: "If life is not safe in its mother's womb - which, naturally speaking, should be the safest place for human life in the entire universe - then it is not safe anywhere." Or, to quote St. Teresa of Calcutta speaking to President Clinton and company at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., in 1997: "What is taking place in America is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?" That is our situation and without conversion of mind and heart what happened in Las Vegas can and will repeat itself with horrifying variations. The victims of abortion are not only the unborn child and its mother, but the whole of society.
In conclusion, events like this are never without hope. In reflecting upon the tragedy I couldn't help but think of the words of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, "Love is stronger than hatred." He used to repeat this to his confreres before he was arrested and sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. Indeed, the love of Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead endures; His light shatters the darkness; His victory over sin, Satan and eternal death is definitive. Let us enter into His victory of light, love and life and do our part to usher in the triumph and reign of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
"In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!"
Our Lady of Fatima (July 13, 1917)
